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Cubs brings storylines to Series, but games lack drama: Griffin

TV is sure to focus on the return to Wrigley Field and the Cubs' quest to end a century-old drought.

A fan walks by a photo of old-time Cubs posted on a wall on Waveland Avenue in 2014 as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of Wrigley Field. The World Series returns to baseball's second-oldest ballpark for the first time since 1945. (Kiichiro Sato / The Associated Press)

CLEVELAND—The storylines for the 112th World Series are a dream for Major League Baseball. The beloved Chicago Cubs and their 108-year curse against the Indians, a team with a national following that has not won a World Series since 1948. Unfortunately the play in the first two games hasn’t measured up to the hype.

The early U.S. overnight TV ratings show the first two games with a larger audience than any series since 2009, chasing that other benchmark series in terms of numbers, which was the Red Sox and Cardinals in 2004, as Boston successfully ended a 98-year curse of their own. Now a third attraction for the network comes into play for the next three games — Wrigley Field and the long-suffering Cubs fans.

“Wrigley, it’s going to be — it’s always crazy good, but I’d have to imagine a little bit more than that, especially coming back at 1-1,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s the finest venue there is in professional sports and maybe in all of sports. When you look up and see that last seat in that farthest corner, it is always filled (even) on a Monday at 1:00 it is filled. Our fans are all of that, but, now, having a World Series to root for, it’s going to be incredibly special.”

The best decision MLB has made thus far in the series is to move the start time of Wednesday’s Game 2 up by an hour. The 5-1 Cubs victory took more than four hours to play and there was a steady rain in the ninth inning, as closer Aroldis Chapman poured in an array of 99- to 103-m.p.h. fastballs. Right after the game, the rain got harder and a normal start time would have resulted in a very long night at Progressive Field.

But even with a split, the games lacked drama.

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The original belief was that for the Indians to win the series, ace right-hander Corey Kluber would have to win at least two games. He held serve in Game 1, shutting down the Cubs, perhaps making Blue Jays hitters feel better about their own weak swings that they had taken against Kluber in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series.

Now manager Terry Francona has declared Kluber his starter for Games 4 and 7 on short rest, dragging Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin along with him. Bauer, attacked by his own drone prior to facing the Jays in the ALCS, has now made three playoff starts, totalling just nine innings. It just demonstrates the desperate straits of the Indians’ rotation minus Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, the latter of whom has returned to the roster but is slated for bullpen duty.

“In our situation right now, there’s a couple of factors,” Francona said. “One, some guys have gotten hurt. Two, we still wouldn’t have (them on short rest) if we didn’t think it was the right thing to do. And part of that has been the workload the starters have had lately. Because, when they’re winning we go to the bullpen and if they’re losing we take them out. So I think they are all situated to handle it.”

Francona is correct. He uses his bullpen unlike other managers, as an aggressive weapon to nail down wins even if the relievers are required for four or five innings. But that has also led to the lack of drama.

The traditional approach to offence is to wear down opposing starters, to be patient and work the pitch count, build it up over 100 so you can get to the middle relievers. Francona doesn’t care. He doesn’t allow most of his starters in October to go that deep, preferring, in most cases, hand things over to Andrew Miller, Cody Allen and friends the third time through the order.

And when Bauer, blood dripping from his hand, couldn’t get out of the first inning in his ALCS start, Francona’s bullpen came in for the kill, six men strong, with no pitcher throwing more than 29 pitches, logging the final 8 1/3 innings to earn the win, with every one of them available the next day. Masterful managing.

Still, the star of the show for the next three World Series games will be Wrigley Field and the Cubs’ compelling history. The network already has its winning storylines — grandma and grandpa have never seen their team in a World Series, tug on the heartstrings, sappy music, blah-blah-blah. But on the field, the hope for the rest of us is that the games will become more compelling.

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